{"id":4642,"date":"2025-01-24T00:44:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-24T00:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/comeaufuneral.com\/?p=4642"},"modified":"2025-12-26T22:01:59","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T22:01:59","slug":"r-john-ottaviani-85","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/comeaufuneral.com\/2025-1\/r-john-ottaviani-85\/","title":{"rendered":"R. John Ottaviani, 85"},"content":{"rendered":"

HAVERHILL \u2013 It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Rudolph John Ottaviani, 85, husband of Mary Ellen (Winters) Ottaviani of Haverhill. He passed away peacefully on Tuesday, January 21, 2025 surrounded by family. He and Mary Ellen celebrated their 60th<\/sup>\u00a0wedding anniversary this past August.<\/p>\n

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John was a lifelong Hillie, born in Haverhill, the son of Rudolph and Sarah Ottaviani. He was a graduate of Haverhill High School, Class of 1957, and was a member of the 1955 State Championship football team. He then continued his education at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he played football for the Minutemen. After graduating college, John became a physical education teacher for the Haverhill Public Schools, spending 36 years at Haverhill High School where he was also an accomplished track coach and football coach. John was awarded the 1980 Boston Globe All Scholastic Coach of the Year. He was known affectionately throughout Haverhill as \u201cCoach O,\u201d John served as the Athletic Director for Haverhill High School from 1983 to 1996. He was inducted into the Massachusetts Track Coaches Hall of Fame in 1985. In 2017, he was inducted into the Haverhill High School Athletics Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

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John had many interests over his 85 years. One of his true passions was long-distance running, completing 10 consecutive Boston Marathons, among other marathons. His personal best was 2:43.He loved the beach, going out to his favorite restaurants and hanging out on his deck with his family. He enjoyed traveling and went on many trips to Europe, the Caribbean and River Cruises. He also loved tailgating at college football games and attending concerts, sporting events and any place with live music. He was the founder of the Haverhill Track Invitational (renamed the Ottaviani Invitational). Every spring, he looked forward to golfing in the Penta Tournament and participating in the Baldi Fun Run with his family.\u00a0After retirement, his greatest passion became being grandfather to his 5 grandchildren. He spent hours watching them play golf, football, and hockey, run track and cross country. Playing gin rummy with his grandchildren was a favorite hobby and he also enjoyed\u00a0showing them his pin collection. Gramps especially loved sharing stories with the kids and listening to them tell their own stories after a game, race or meet.<\/p>\n

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In addition to his wife, Mary Ellen, John is survived by his five children, Mary Sue Ottaviani and Cara Ottaviani of Haverhill, Ann McKeown and her husband Kevin of Pembroke, John Ottaviani and his wife Cynthia of North Andover, and Kathleen Foley and her husband Michael of Billerica. He is also survived by his brother Steven Ottaviani. He was predeceased by his brother George Ottaviani. He leaves his five beloved grandchildren, Jake and Nicholas J. Ottaviani, Brady McKeown and Lily-Anne and Maeve Foley. John was also an uncle to many nieces and nephews.<\/p>\n

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The Ottaviani family would like to thank the health care workers from All Care (John, Amanda and Kayla), along with the staff at High Pointe House in Haverhill for their care and compassion.\u00a0In lieu of flowers consider donating to the Haverhill Track Team, Haverhill High School, c\/o Michael Maguire, 137 Monument St. Haverhill, MA 01832.<\/p>\n

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ARRANGEMENTS: Family and friends are respectfully invited to attend calling hours on Sunday, January 26 from 2PM until 5PM at the Haverhill High School Gymnasium, 137 Monument Street, Haverhill. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Monday, January 27 at 10:00AM at St. James Church of St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish, 185 Winter Street, Haverhill. Burial to follow at Linwood Cemetery, Haverhill. Arrangements are under the direction of the Kevin B. Comeau Funeral Home 486 Main St. Haverhill. Please visit www.comeaufuneral.com<\/a> or Comeau Funeral Home on Facebook.<\/p>\n

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HAVERHILL \u2013 It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Rudolph John Ottaviani, 85, husband of Mary Ellen (Winters) Ottaviani of Haverhill. He passed away peacefully on Tuesday, January 21, 2025 surrounded by family. He and Mary Ellen celebrated their 60th\u00a0wedding anniversary this past August.   John was a lifelong Hillie, born […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4641,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-obituaries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/comeaufuneral.com\/2025-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/comeaufuneral.com\/2025-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/comeaufuneral.com\/2025-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comeaufuneral.com\/2025-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comeaufuneral.com\/2025-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4642"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/comeaufuneral.com\/2025-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6451,"href":"https:\/\/comeaufuneral.com\/2025-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4642\/revisions\/6451"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comeaufuneral.com\/2025-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/comeaufuneral.com\/2025-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comeaufuneral.com\/2025-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comeaufuneral.com\/2025-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}